24-Hour Salad

I plucked a grey hair out of my left eyebrow this morning. This surprised me; although it should not, considering that for over five years, I dye my hair, not for fun, but out of necessity (I am sitting with light ash brown on my head right now as I type. No, seriously. I am sitting here tinting my roots).

Damn did that eyebrow thing make me feel old!

However, I didn’t feel as old as I did at a party I attended back in October. The theme was housewarming. The hostess was the girlfriend of my buddy and DiS! regular, Noah.

Here’s Noah:

And guess what? He made Nic’s British Sausage Rolls! I was all, “oooh, those look good. What are those?” And I was surprised/thrilled/flattered when he said that’s what they were; I love it when folks make recipes from the blog! And, as always, they were deeeelish. Seriously, I recommend this recipe for any holiday parties that may already be on your calendar.

But anyhoo, for the housewarming party I decided to bring a dish from one of my cookbooks that I have not yet featured–Recipes That Please Cook Book (1966) compiled by the St. Alphonsus Mothers’ Club of Springdale, PA.

It was still warm out, so I went for a salad. 24-Hour Salad courtesy of Mrs. Philip Wagner of Ambridge, PA.

I also picked this recipe because tucked in between the pages of the book was this:

It’s the same recipe that’s in the book, so I wonder if this copy was owned by Mrs. Philip Wagner of Ambridge, PA.

OK, time to make the salad!

I made the custard.

Folded it into the canned fruits (yeah, Mandarin Oranges!) and marshmallows,

And then folded in the whipped cream.

So here it is after 24 hours in the fridge:

Survey says: it was great. Because ambrosia is great.

But do you know what wasn’t great? The fact that I was the oldest person at this party. Claire joined me and as soon as we walked in I turned to her and whispered, “Oh my god. We are ancient.”

I had a lot of conversations that evening with guys from Towson who are students-by-day and bartenders-by-night.

And I have a goddamned mortgage.

From hence forth this will be known as 24-Year-Old Salad!

And since I’m such an old lady, I totally took my dish WITH THE LEFTOVER SALAD IN IT back home with me and had it with dinner the next day.

8 Responses to 24-Hour Salad

Trust somebody older than even you, age is a relative thing. You should com around ours sometime. You will feel like a schoolgirl compared to the wife and I. Enjoy it while you can.
The dish disgusts me btw. Marshmallow and tinned mandarins!

1 I sing this on a weekly basis. and B I like hanging with younger folk, reminds me of what I’ve been though and don’t have to go through again… like my 20’s so enjoy paying your mortgage with your full time job and the fact that you don’t have homework to worry about. Come join me in celebrating old age, the water is fine.

My MIL used to make the something similar with mixed fruits, shredded coconut, and nuts, except instead of custard she just used a little powdered sugar. Hub’s family also made something called “Calf Slobbers” (yes, it does look somewhat like that) with jello, whipped topping, nuts, and coconut. That’s from Oklahoma by way of Texas, mind you. The things I’ve learned to make in the last 36 years…

HA! I said the same thing this morning–I went on an interview and everyone seemed so young, it made me tired. Then I saw a guy come in that was about 25 years older, and that made me feel even MORE tired!

Enjoy your “old age!” Seasoning on food is great, seasoned people are even greater!

Wait until you pluck a really long, grey hair from your nostril (or your chin) then, you’ll feel old. Eventually, your eyesight will be too poor to notice which is why you need to line-up a young friend, niece/nephew to be in charge of tweezing your chin should you ever find yourself in hospital and unable do it yourself. Plan ahead, you don’t want to be figuring these things out in your fifties.

I grew up in a house full of diabetics-nothing like that ever appeared at our table.